re: If all trade between US and China stopped.

quote:

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China leads the world in rare earth metal production (a group of 17 chemical elements), supplying 90 percent of the export market. The United States purchases 80 percent of its rare earth metals from China, despite having the resources to produce its own supply. These metals could be extracted profitably in the United States, but are not because of our restrictive and redundant environmental regulations." 

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The Molycorp mine says hello.

Still, places like Myanmar are going to come online and China's production share WILL go down imho. This "command" by Trump may lead to an infusion of cash needed for the infrastructure required for production facilities (a lack of environmental "strangulation" though regulation not withstanding).